7 Teachers New Year’s Resolutions

Teachers New Year’s resolutions are a great way for the dedicated 👩‍🏫 educator to get themselves back on track.

Teachers often struggle with making good decisions for themselves in the classroom and their personal lives.

It seems like us teachers are so busy taking care of others’ needs that we neglect our own. 😢

But, it doesn’t have to be that way!

Let’s check out a list of 7 great teacher New Year’s resolution ideas that will keep you focused and motivated throughout the school year.

Teachers New Year’s Resolution #1: Play

Research is showing that the more adults play within preferred activities, the healthier they are.

It’s often hard to even comprehend making time to 🛝 play, especially for teachers.

My idea of play is often to go weed in my 🌹 flowerbeds.

But actually, that’s work in the long run.

Same thing with taking care of my 🐥 chickens.

I love those girls and they do bring me true joy but at the end of the day it is work.

Exercise 💪 is enjoyable for me too but unless it’s a leisurely walk with a group of friends we were talking and catching up, it’s not really play either.

Here’s what I’ve been working on for play. 

• Take a kayaking trip
• Experiment with a new hairdo or style
• Jump on a trampoline like the big kind 
• Play corn hole (I’m from the Midwest it’s just what we do OK)
• Have a dance party
• Sing loudly

Schedule in play activities for your classroom that you enjoy.

For example, wouldn’t it be fun to have a play time where everyone in the classroom is blowing 🫧 bubbles for 5 minutes?

Find your fun thing and do it!

A group of my teacher friends were talking about relaxing play and one of them said: I have no idea what I like to do for fun.

Ugh. We all need some ❤️ self-care.

Think back to when you were a kid.

Did you love swinging on the playground?

Maybe a coloring book brought you enjoyment.

Perhaps riding 🚲 bikes was your jam.

You will find what you need if you reflect and are honest with yourself.

I have faith in you. 🫶

Teachers New Year’s Resolution #2: Take a Real Lunch Break

I often use my lunch break as a time to catch up on my 💻 paperwork.

I sit at my computer and I type while I’m eating my food.

This is a habit that I started so I could get my work done during contract hours and not have to take it home with me.

Some of my colleagues think it’s a bad habit.

However, there are days that I take a real lunch break and eat with a group of other teachers. 🥗

Sometimes, enjoying a really nice calm moment in my classroom alone during lunch can be really nice.

I even read the news or turn on some relaxing 🎶 music. 

Give yourself a real break and actually eat your lunch during lunch time.

And remember: teachers New Year’s resolutions don’t have to be absolute. You can say you will take a lunch break once a week.

Do it on your terms in a way that brings you happiness. 🤗

Teachers New Year’s Resolution #3: Schedule in Self-Care

The school year right before the pandemic broke out I made a big point to help my group of special education students with self-care and coping strategies.

Apparently my Spidey-Senses were on full alert. 👀

I love teaching self-care because it truly helps me as well.

There was a student I had who was just a rockstar.

She was organized, dedicated to learning, and readily accepted help from her teachers.

She used all the accommodations provided to her through her IEP.

I truly don’t know what she’s going to do as a career when she’s older, but whatever she chooses, she’s going to be successful at it. 💫

But as a sixth grade teacher, I often noticed the high achieving students struggling with a new set of rules, and a bigger workload than they were used to in elementary school.

This young lady was no exception.

She was raised by a single dad and she had two brothers at home.

My student often talked about cooking and other chores that she was responsible for at home.

She seem stressed out so I taught my students a trick to 😴 fall asleep quickly at night.

For a lesson opener, I played a YouTube video that had music set with a relaxing frequency.

This type of frequency has been scientifically shown to help people fall asleep and rest quickly.

All of the students were extremely interested in this concept which is great because we all need help relaxing.

In this group, all of the students had IEPs meaning they had to work harder to be successful at school.

The day after teaching the lesson, my student came in and told me, “Mrs. Koehler, I listened to one of those YouTube relaxation videos and fell asleep within five minutes!”

She was so excited and I felt so fulfilled. 🙏

Pull relaxation strategies into your classroom as one of your teachers New Year’s resolutions to help you and your students.

Teachers New Year’s Resolution #4: Drop the Negativity and Pick Up Some Positivity

Throughout my teaching career, I have worked extensively in four separate public school buildings within three different school districts in two different states.

One thing that has followed me no matter where I’ve went is 👎 negativity from a sprinkling of teachers.

It is shock to me how often adults are bullying each other.

Some teachers are flat out rude to other teachers.

Sometimes teachers decide that they’re no longer talking to another educator and plainly ignore their peer. 👿

I’ve seen principals bully and scream at staff members.

I’ve been in large meetings where colleagues have been publicly shamed.

This is one of the reasons that I 🛑 stopped eating in the teachers’ lounge years ago.  

Fighting the negativity that comes in my head is one chore, but listening to the negativity from other people was just too much for me.

Instead of heading to the lounge for lunch, I use the time to work on my own paperwork during lunchtime, which is truly helpful but admittedly isolating.

This might be the most important of the teachers New Year’s resolutions on my list.

Grow in this new year by 🖐 rejecting the option to join in on a complaining session.  

Realize that excluding another teacher, refusing to talk to them, complaining about them to other teachers on the playground, and gossiping in the teachers lounge is a form of bullying.

Choose ❤️ love, choose to be inclusive of all, and choose to be professional.

Dropping negativity does not mean that you have to be a best friend to everyone.

It doesn’t even mean that you have to like a person.

It just means that you are rejecting the mean girls way of life.

Try it maybe you’ll like it. 😉

Teachers New Year’s Resolution #5: Empathize with a Student with Special Needs

Many of the students on my caseload these days have autism or an emotional disability.

Some students have a learning disability, and still others have a health impairment, but they all have some type of issue that’s affecting their ability to learn. 📚

Because of this, they might get more frustrated and struggle to grasp concepts.  

In a training I once gave to a group of educators, I provided them each with a pair of gloves.

Next, I had them put on the 🧤 gloves and told them to untie, and then retie their shoes with their gloves on. 👟

Some teachers were able to do this.

Others couldn’t even come close.

The point of that lesson was to show them that kids, who struggle with certain motor skills, movements and repetitions, truly have a disability preventing them from doing what we wish they could.

In a different training, I gave a group of educators a calculus 📝 worksheet with four problems.

These teachers were struggling with the fact that their students “just couldn’t do it.”

I told them that once they had finished the calculus page with the correct answers, our meeting would be over.

If they didn’t finish, we would ⏰ wait until they had no matter how long it took.

Not one single teacher even picked up a pencil to try the problems.

Instead, I received a room full of disgruntled looks and a few head shakes.

Of course, my point is that, sometimes, no matter the threats or bribes, our limitations won’t allow us to complete certain tasks.

Being mindful of the varied abilities we all have can truly transform your teaching career and your personal life. 👌

If you are looking for a transformational teachers New Year’s resolution, grab this one.

Now, go try to tie your shoes with gloves on. I DARE YOU!

Teachers New Year’s Resolution #6: Leave School on Time

So, this is really hard for some teachers.

Leaving school when your contract hours is up is shunned upon in some buildings. 🚗

So is arriving on time instead of early.

This totally puzzles me. 🤷‍♀️

Teachers have a contract with working hours.

Admittedly, getting the work load for a teacher done in contract hours is super duper hard if not impossible.

That’s why I often work through my lunch break.

Recycling lesson plans, co-planning with a teacher friend, shopping on TPT, and working on the computer on my couch can really help. 😊

Also, I make it a point to never schedule meetings after school hours.

As a special education teacher, I’m often the one planning all of the IEP meetings. 🗓

I just can’t expect a teachers to be available when they are “off work.”

Many are willingly to be at any meeting, but it shouldn’t be required.

Take a stance with me and do your best to keep your time sacred.

Enjoy your life and enjoy work. 🎉

Just make sure that you respect your personal life and add this as an important teachers new year’s resolution.

Teachers New Year’s Resolution #7: Streamline Your Paperwork

Very early on in my teaching career, I realized how much 📝 paperwork the job comes with.

This only increased when I transitioned from a general education teacher to a SPED teacher.

So, what’s a girl to do?

Make organization one of your teachers New Year’s resolutions! 🗄

It sounds simple enough, but well-organized teachers tend to be more successful than those who aren’t.

If you’re not sure where to start, try organizing your supplies by subject area.

I have all of my teaching theme organized in rubbermaid tubs by the month of the year. 🗃

This will make it easier to find what you need when you need it.

Next, organize your computer files. 💻

Make folders, add detailed titles to files, and use the search or find tool on your computer to locate a file quickly.

For my SPED friends, streamline your goal writing by using goal banks.

Crank out IEPs in record time by using an IEP help guide.

Create an easy to edit schedule and lesson plan template. 🗓

Save ALL YOUR FILES in whatever system works best for you.

Want a freebie that will get you organized with your IEP paperwork? Click here to sign up for the IEP documents FREE download.

If you have a fun teachers new year’s resolutions, send Caroline a message so she can add it to the list! ❤️